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[Acanthus117]

there's no need to spend so danged much time reading fanfic.

As I've said before, fanfiction is my dirty pleasure which I indulge in not so very often.

...

Ah, fuck it, I have several tabs open that's fanfic right now.

Whats wrong with me

Then again, it could be the fact that I haven't got a new book in ages and I want something relatively new to read, you know?

[Vector]

Yeah, exactly.

Or, rather, I have more than enough books, but most of them are extremely serious and require loads and loads and loads of reading between the lines, memorization, thought, etc.  It's good to have a break.

[FuzzyZergling]

I read lots of Homestuck fanfiction.
I see nothing shameful about this at all.

[Lofn]

I don't understand why anyone with the willpower to grind out a story would write it about someone else's setting, characters, etc. It baffles me.

[Vector]

I don't understand why anyone with the willpower to grind out a story would write it about someone else's setting, characters, etc. It baffles me.

I wrote it briefly for a couple of reasons.

a. Attempted infiltration of Hetalia fandom (social experiment)

b. Wanted to try out a new style of writing without fucking up my own characters

c. Permits writing without initial description, and assumes a certain base of knowledge, so that descriptions of manner, mood, etc., are emphasized.

Other than that, though, I guess some people just really love the source material.

[applesauce machine]

I don't understand why anyone with the willpower to grind out a story would write it about someone else's setting, characters, etc. It baffles me.

I think (for some) it has to do with not knowing what to do, or where to start if they're to build everything up from scratch. Having pre-set guidelines helps kickstart the story-writing. According to I don't know how many people, I'm a great writer, but I can't write stories at all unless there's a very specific whatever to it, or if I am inspired for some reason, which is rare.
Most of the time, it's like I need a template to help me get inspired enough to come up with anything at all.
That's just me, but I'm sure there are plenty of others with this problem who also happen to write fanfic.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

That's nto the fluoride octet though.  That's an incredibly shitty doomsday device.

Do you realize that with that avatar, you can get away with all the typos you want by pretending it was on purpose?

[Aqizzar]

I don't understand why anyone with the willpower to grind out a story would write it about someone else's setting, characters, etc. It baffles me.

I think (for some) it has to do with not knowing what to do, or where to start if they're to build everything up from scratch. Having pre-set guidelines helps kickstart the story-writing. According to I don't know how many people, I'm a great writer, but I can't write stories at all unless there's a very specific whatever to it, or if I am inspired for some reason, which is rare.

Exactly.  For me at least, all the times I've tried writing something, explaining the characters and setting and getting the reader to understand who these people are and what's going on is the hardest part, because you're starting from scratch.  People write fanfic for the same reason most fiction is set in either a nonspecific pastiche of "the present day", or clearly defined points in history.  You don't have to explain anything to the reader, so you can just jump straight into the character interaction and plots.  It's an easy crutch, easy enough that it necessarily attracts the unskilled and uncreative, but there's nothing inherently wrong with writing about someone else's fictional characters anymore than writing fiction about real people and history.

I also have a confession to make, that I've had these tabs to the Homestuck fanfic archive open for several weeks, because I can't stomach the idea of bookmarking this stuff, but I didn't want to lose track of them either because they're really good.  In the spirit of the update, this guy has some very intriguing and intellectual explorations of Dave and Jade as characters, individually and with others.  I enjoyed reading them; those two especially have a lot of mind bending character analysis and perspectives floating around.

[Karnewarrior]

I don't understand why anyone with the willpower to grind out a story would write it about someone else's setting, characters, etc. It baffles me.

Those things and more. It's far, far easier to do, you're able to skip that boring bit inbetween the beginning and the body, and above all else you're able to expand the fandom you're involved in, which makes happy fuzzies all around. I personally like writing fanfiction because explaining a universe is hard, more and more the farther removed from our universe it is.

Many established writers started out on fanfiction, most of them outright admitting it (although I can't remember any specifics) for exactly this reason. It makes for good practice.

Personally I just like Alternia and it's culture; it's fun to write! I actually used Trolls as a sort of basis off of which I made my books Goblins. They're insectoids, start out as grubs, grow into humanoids. Of course, they aren't anywhere near trolls culturally.

[Acanthus117]

dellaluce is awesome.

[applesauce machine]

I also have a confession to make, [...] those two especially have a lot of mind bending character analysis and perspectives floating around.

I have an email that I use for all purposes but emailing. One of these purposes is saving drafts with urls and notes and such-- stuff I don't want to bookmark or save to my computer, but want to keep track of. I unfortunately have a horrible tendency to take things with such nice, neat, orderly potential and, somehow, making it an organized mess that I can only navigate by having it in view because good God there's no way I'm ever memorizing even a portion of this ever-changing amalgam of letters and links.
I just described my bookmarks. I'm not certain of what's in them, but I can't do as much as efficiently without them.

Spoiler: Also, what (click to show/hide)

[Karnewarrior]

I'm sorry Applesauce I don't see a problem. 

[Benevolence]

I don't understand why anyone with the willpower to grind out a story would write it about someone else's setting, characters, etc. It baffles me.

Speaking not as a ficcer (despite a vague and reoccurring interest (why so terrible, motivation?)) but as someone who knows and talks with one (reasonably decent, I believe) fairly regulardly, various reasons, some of which have been covered.

In this particular case, for this particular fandom (Golden Sun, if anyone cares), it's primarily as exploration, because the games leave so much unstated; enough to give an idea of what the characters, the world, and such are like... but leaving so much more to the imagination. You have a base; what comes after it? What else is there to the characters that the sources only hint at? What else is there in the world that is never seen? There's also practice (you can't become a better writer without actually writing), experimentation with new writing styles, a way to pass the time, or just ways to explore random plot-bunnies that won't get out of your head.

Reasons vary. Some things work better with some settings than others. Sometimes it's just to explore possibilities (what if X happened instead?), sometimes just to do more with the characters one likes (or hates (or just didn't get enough development)), or sometimes... well, ask the writer.

In more HS related news, referring back an update, someone erroneously explained Scratch's reaction as not wanting to see Slick PASSIONATELY HATE-SMOOCHING his ectobiological mother. I mention this because people (including myself) misread the assertion as meaning Snowman was Slick's ecto-mother rather than Scratch's (which she isn't on account of simply being... an instigator, I guess, but not quite mother). I mention this only to put the idea in your mind.

It wouldn't be the strangest thing in the comic.

[Karnewarrior]

If you think about it, Terezi is Karkat's sister, or at least cousin.

I try not to think about it.

[applesauce machine]

If you think about it, Terezi is Karkat's sister, or at least cousin.

I try not to think about it.

You don't even have to think too hard about it, what with the INCESTUOUS SLURRY thing.
Remember when we all took a moment to lament the fact that the aforementioned phrase isn't a feature of common parlance in our civilization?

[Duke 2.0]

 And this is where I offend everyone by pulling out the rednecks seadwellers image again.